If you’ve never visited the CNIB Prince George office, you really should. It’s run by a small, dedicated, close-knit team of staff and volunteers who work tirelessly to provide services to the vast region of Northern BC.
One of those dedicated volunteers is Gary.
Gary has held many volunteer positions with CNIB since 2003. He started out by performing general office duties such as answering calls, photocopying and phoning clients for about service days. He has since taken on many more CNIB roles – he’s a peer mentor, a fundraiser, a board member, a peer support group facilitator and a translator for our Punjabi clients.
Our Executive Director, John Mulka, sums up the importance of Gary’s contributions: “Gary makes a huge impact by volunteering countless hours in our Northern BC region. He works closely with our small staff team providing excellent administrative support and, in fact, sometimes he’s the one keeping the office doors open when staff are unavailable; we can count on Gary to hold down the fort.”
Gary chooses to give back to CNIB by supporting others who are adjusting to vision loss because of his own experience with losing his vision in 1998.
“I lost my eyesight overnight and it was a sudden shock to wake up blind,” says Gary. “CNIB has helped me tremendously by giving me the practical and emotional support I needed to move forward. They have been there for me when I needed them. I am extremely independent today because of their support and ongoing help throughout the years.”
Recently, Gary participated in the first annual CNIB Night Steps event in Prince George. CNIB is extremely proud of Gary’s efforts as a participant; his hard work raising funds on behalf of CNIB were nothing short of remarkable. As the top fundraiser for the event, Gary raised over $5,000. These valuable funds will directly benefit programs and services in Northern BC. Gary is already looking forward to Night Steps 2016 and we hope others will join him to ‘brighten the night’ for those who are blind or partially sighted
Sharon Pratt
Specialist Service Coordination& Volunteer Services
CNIB
